sams84 's review for:

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

5.0

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I picked this up last August when I visited the Bookshop and met Shaun (bare feet and all) when I went on a roadtrip around Scotland last August and all the charm of the shop and Shaun's wit and humour are very much captured by this book, as one would expect. Bythell is very honest and doesn't hold back with his quips and opinions about his store, staff, stock and customers, not to mention his loathing and distaste for kindles, amazon and other small store destroying things (including, nay especially the people that use them). But he is charmingly amusing with it, and to be honest (despite owning a kindle) I am very much in agreement with him that there is something being lost, not just in the world of books, with the advent of global retail. When I met him and this book reminds me very much of Dylan Moran's portrayal in Black Books, minus the during hours drinking and swearing and this made both all the better (I would no doubt be as bad if not worse were I running a bookstore). An excellent read but maybe not for those that are easily offended by a bit of honesty.